A/N: To Big Fan: Yayy! You got back! :D I was happy to see I got an email1 You got school of today too? Everywhere but my school! We have Friday off… Way too far away!

I walked around the quiet, empty house just remembering all the times here… They were awful from what I recalled… I don't think there was one happy memory… until last night…

There was a knock at the door… who would be knocking on our door? No one ever did…

I tried to ignore it… That's what Cal would've done..

Tap! Tap!

I huffed in annoyance and walked to the door. As I pulled open the door, a young woman stood there. "Can I help you?" I asked, slightly annoyed. She looked shocked. "Well?" I snapped. "I-is Caledon home?" she asked, her voice soft. She had her brown, curly hair up in a messy bun, obviously held by pins. There sure were a lot because I could see about five ready to fall out…

"Who wants to know?" I asked. She backed up a little before answering, "Astor… Madeleine Astor," eyes wide. Suddenly the name hit me. "May I ask why you're looking for him?" I asked. "Miss—Charlotte, aren't you?" she asked. I nodded.

"You're the housekeeper, so isn't it your job to know where he is?" she snapped. Her fragile voice becoming suddenly loud. I oculd see the fear in her eyes… She'd just been rude, uncouth and unlady like. "I'm his wife!" I cried.

"Cal's not married!" she cried back. "Is that what he told you?" I snapped. "As a matter of fact, yes!" she yelled. "Well, I'll let him know his toy stopped by," I said, slamming the front door in Astor's face. I waited until she left before walking away front the door.

How dare Cal tell this gold digger that I'm a housekeeper? That act, as fake as it was—did he honestly think I wasn't going to find out?

Well, he is sorely mistaken!

I grabbed my overcoat and stormed out of the house. I went to the one place I hadn't been in so long. The shoreline.

The sun had been overhead when I heard Cal walking up to our house. He was cursing and in a way I felt it had to do with Astor. I didn't want to go back, but I knew I had to straighten this all out.

I grabbed my overcoat and tugged it closely around me. I walked back to the house, trying to find a good way to ask him about all this…

If any…

I got into the house, careful not to make too much noise. "Cal?" I called. No one answered me. "Cal?" I asked again. "Cal!" I cried almost impatiently. "What?" he called just as impatiently. He was in the kitchen. "I wanted to know if you were home," I said. He seemed surprised by my answer, but practically inhaled the beer sitting in the glass in his hands.

I looked at the glass with lazy eyes, as if I were judging the thing nonchalantly. "How was it… today?" I asked cautiously. I didn't want him to get suspicious. "Did anyone come by?" he asked me slowly. "Not that I can remember," I lied, trying to keep my breathing even. If Astor got to him first…

I was in for it…

He nodded, still staring at me for a moment. He was trying to decipher the truth through the language my body was using, but I carefully adjusted it to calm instead of stiff.

"Well… there was Madeleine Astor… she was looking for you… it seemed almost… important," I said calmly, cleaning the bowls that were—already clean—on the counter. "Stop that," he said.

I put the bowl down along with the cloth and turned to face him. "Did she say what?" he asked. "No… she seemed very—er—set on something… like businesswoman on duty," I said.

He nodded again and turned to leave.

"Cal," I choked out. He stopped in the doorway. "I know about her… about you," I said, slowly. "And what exactly do you think you know?" he said, stepping closer to me. "Cal, I'm giving you one chance and one only! Come clean now and maybe I can find a way to look past all this…" I said. "You listen, Charlotte, and you listen good! If you think I sat around doing nothing or even looked for you for the last few months then your awfully mistaken!" he snapped, holding my shoulders tightly, shaking me violently.

"So you slept around with anyone you could?" I spat, looking into his suddenly cold eyes. "It's not like I had a loyal wife at my side," he spit. I threw my head back and laughed. It was almost a cackle by standards. "You think you're loyal, Cal? Do you really? A loyal husband doesn't sleep around with gold diggers while his wife is begging for food miles away! A loyal husband doesn't beat his wife everytime she talks back to him! If you want a loyal wife, Cal… show some loyalty yourself!" I said, pulling away from his deathly strong hold.

He looked at me. It was his turn to laugh. "You deserve what you've gotten!" he laughed. "Have I?" I asked, turning to storm out of the room.

Cal had pulled my wrist and shoved me against the wall. I gasped in shock. It wasn't the foreign—yet familiar—pain in my back that shocked me. It was the force and how quickly it had happened. I felt like maybe he'd been practicing this abuse while waiting to recapture me.

"Don't make me do something you'll regret ever having caused!" he snapped, his mouth so close to my ear. I shivered and said, "You've already done that, Cal, need I remind you?"

He smirked and pushed my farther up the wall to the point where the pain was body-numbing. I closed my eyes trying to hold back the scream that built up in my throat. "You will be loyal to me, Charlotte," he said.

"Cal… I told you that I gave you one more chance and I am… if you let me off this wall, I'll look past everything you did… I know what you did the other night, Cal… I felt how gentle you can be! If you can just be that way, Cal, all the time—"

He removed himself from in front of me and stormed out of the house.

I knew he was disgusted with himself for having believed softening up a bit just once was a good idea. I knew tonight he was going to get piss-drunk—what was ever new anymore?—and I'd pay the price for it… but I couldn't worry about that now… The only thing I was to worry about was now.

I only had to worry about how to handle…

It hurt me when Madeleine came to the house. I want to love Cal but he makes it so hard! I just needed a way to show him I could be loyal! I wanted him to be loyal too!

But how? How could I ever, ever get that? Ever?

A/N: So? I pushed through and beat my writer's block! :D I'm glad to be writing about Charlotte and Cal again to be honest! I don't know why, but they are my favorite (and I still hate Cal!) I think it's because I see Charlotte has a strong girl and Cal as a deep-down-and-forgiving person… He has a soft side… he just refuses to show it! :D Sometimes you have to look past a person's mask to find their true beauty!